A tale of two 'A' Mountain observatories

NMSU Facilities and Services Project Manager Jon Padilla points toward the unused Tortugas South Observatory on Tortugas “A” Mountain. The observatory, built in 1955, is scheduled for demolition which is expected to take two months. According to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management NMSU must restore the land after demolition to near the condition the area was in before the construction of the observatory in 1955.(Photo: Jett Loe / Sun-News)Buy Photo

But their fates are about to diverge. One is bound for demolition, which starts this week. The other is in the midst of a slow-going restoration, and proponents for the project are seeking help from the public.

The first observatory, located on the south side of the mountain, dates back to the early 1960s, when it was first permitted by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which owns part of the mountain.

Impending demolition

Known as the Tortugas South Observatory, the rectangular cinderblock building once featured two domes that protected telescopes. These days, the building is falling apart in some places and has become a target of vandals. Some debris, including empty film boxes, litters the floor, serving as a reminder of the work that went on there years ago.

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(Photo: Jett Loe / Sun-News)

The use of that observatory, which housed 12-inch and a 16-inch telescopes, fell off likely in the '70s or '80s, said Jon Holtzman, astronomy department head at New Mexico State University. But in recent years, it fell victim to the elements.

"One of the domes started to crack open a couple of years ago," he said. "And with our winds, it blew down."

Holtzman reported the damage to others at NMSU. And it turned out the university was in the midst of planning to demolish a nearby structure, known as the AT&T Building. A decision was made to tear down the Tortugas South Observatory, as well.

During a visit to the site last week, graffiti covered large patches of the exterior walls. An aluminum survey marker, set into a concrete slab of the observatory, showed a date of "5-8-64." It listed the elevation of the building as 4,750.96 feet.

"We salvaged the domes and telescope in the early part of last summer," said Henry Espalin, assistant director for facilities at NMSU.

The AT&T Building, which is uphill from the observatory, is a yellow, rectangular-shaped building that once served as the base for a radio communications site. Graffiti defaces its walls.

The building had become forgotten over the years and was attracting vandals, said Jon Padilla, NMSU facilities and services project manager. Also, the university — under a directive that new building space must be offset by the reduction of old building space — has been carrying out an audit of its buildings.

"We're getting rid of the used stuff to possibly plan for future square feet," he said.

The goal of the audit was to "make sure we're using our space efficiently," Espalin said.

Pilgrimage considered

While Padilla's recent involvement with Tortugas "A" Mountain has been professional, there's a personal side, too. For more than three decades, he's joined the throngs of pilgrims who make a yearly trek up the mountain as part of Our Lady of Guadalupe Festival, hosted by the Tortugas Pueblo south of Las Cruces.

"I've been doing it for 32 years — the Tortugas hike," he said.

Henry Espalin, assistant director for facilities at NMSU, locks up a building known as the AT&T Building on top of Tortugas "A" Mountain during a tour of the site Nov. 11. The decades-old structure, which once housed radio communications equipment, is set for demolition.(Photo: Picasa)

Indeed, Padilla recounted a particularly challenging hike that happened in the late '80s. It was snowing and the weather was all-around "miserable," he said. By chance, he met one of his cousins along the path. And the two made their way to the AT&T building, which served as a wind block.

"The building provided us a barricade from the wind and the snow," he said.

The pilgrimage is scheduled Dec. 11. NMSU officials said demolition activity, which will be carried out by Western Builders, will halt on the day of the pilgrimage to avoid disruptions.

The overall cost of the two-building demolition project is $243,000, Espalin said. That includes planning work done by engineers. The demolition is expected to last about 60 days.

As part of relinquishing its land-use permit for the two structures, NMSU also must do work to restore the affected site back to a more natural state, according to the BLM.

That entails digging up some of the larger desert plants — such as ocotillo, sotol and other cactus on the site — and replanting them once the demolition is done, said Joseph Navarro, BLM environmental protection specialist. In addition, the land must be contoured back to the original slope of the mountain.

Orange flagging is seen Nov. 11 near a structure called the AT&T Building on top of Tortugas "A" Mountain southeast of Las Cruces. Flags were posted to mark the boundary areas for a contractor that will be tearing down the building as early as Wednesday, New Mexico State University officials said.(Photo: Diana Alba Soular)

Orange flagging has been posted around the Tortugas South Observatory and the AT&T building sites, creating a boundary for the contractor to work.

"The footprint is going to be kept to a minimum — as much as possible," Navarro said. "We'll try to get the condition of that site and the land back to its pre-structure conditions. That's going to take some time."

BLM staff will inspect the site periodically throughout the demolition, Navarro said. Also, a final inspection will take place afterward.

Northern observatory

A second observatory is located atop Tortugas "A" Mountain, in the vicinity of a large communications tower that's also owned by NMSU. Thanks to its location near the crest, it's likely more familiar to hikers and pilgrims who visit the mountain than the southern observatory.

Holtzman said that northern observatory, which houses a 24 inch-diameter telescope, was built in the 1960s and "used regularly" for decades to monitor the planets. But the university stopped using it in the early 1990s, when it shifted work to Apache Point Observatory south of Cloudcroft.

A faded sign was seen Nov. 11, posted on a wall of the Tortugas South Observatory southeast of Las Cruces.(Photo: Diana Alba Soular)

Then, roughly five years ago, Holtzman was contacted by someone from the American Association of Variable Star Observers, an international professional-amateur organization based in Massachusetts. Two of its members were hoping to establish an observatory in the Southwest. The organization's director had grown up in Las Cruces and recalled there was an observatory on top of Tortugas "A" Mountain.

So, the members worked out an agreement with NMSU for part-time use of the telescope.

A renovation of the observatory has been in the works for several years.

"What it entails is bringing the 1960s technology up to 21st-century technology," he said. "So we did some work with a bunch of engineering students, replacing some old motors with new motors."

A box of rolled paper made by the Esterline-Angus Co. was among debris littering the Tortugas South Observatory last week. The now-deteriorating building once hosted two telescopes, but it fell out of use. New Mexico State University plans to tear it down starting Wednesday.(Photo: Diana Alba Soular)

Continued Holtzman: "It's been a slow process, but in the last couple of weeks, we've actually been using it pretty regularly."

The outside of the building is shabby-looking. And Holtzman said he's hoping to see it restored. But it's likely to take some help.

"I'd love to raise some money to repair the exterior of that building, but I don't know how I'm going to do that," he said.

Holtzman said he sees potential for the northern observatory to be used as an educational outreach tool to the community. Residents who are interested in the project can contact him at 575-646-8181 or holtz@nmsu.edu.

Reporter Diana Alba Soular may be reached at 575-541-5443 or dalba@lcsun-news.com. Follow her on Twitter: @AlbaSoular